When embarking to a location to catch fish it is common to carry a fishing rod, a tackle box for carrying fishing tackle, and a coolbox for storing food and/or drink. The tackle box has a plurality of separate containers for storing separate items of tackle. Typically, the fishing rod and the tackle box are carried in one hand and the coolbox in the other. A disadvantage of such arrangement is that the fisherman has no hand free to assist in climbing or the like which may be necessary to reach the location for fishing. It is more desirable for the fisherman to be able to carry the tackle box on his/her back. For example, a conventional knapsack could be used. However, in such a case containers must still be used in order to store the separate items of tackle without tangling with each other. The containers for the tackle can be easily stored but can not be easily retrieved from the conventional knapsack and so the ease of carrying is lost to the difficulty of locating a required container and retrieving it. The problem is that the conventional knapsack is too flexible and does not readily allow orderly arrangement of the containers for convenient retrieval.
Prior art knapsacks are typified by Australian Patent Application Nos. 59081/90 (Mahvi et. al.) and 28765/89 (Falletta et. al.) and Australian Patents Nos. 525380 (Brunton) and 506560 (Essl). Mahvi et. al. disclose a multipurpose travel bag capable of being hand carried or worn as a back pack. The travel bag has a plurality of compartments, some of which are removable and all of which are intended for differing uses. Falletta et. al. disclose an amphibious backpack intended for use under water for "submarine trekking". The backpack has a plurality of compartments two of which can be removed. Some of the compartments are water proof and some and designed to fill with water to provide buoyancy compensation. Brunton discloses a traveller's pack intended to facilitate easier packing and unpacking of items and allowing for easier accounting of the items. Various compartments of the pack connect together with zippers to form an assembled pack from a collection of discrete compartments. Essl discloses a backpack such as a briefcase which can be carried on shoulder straps. The backpack has a stiffening insert over which is fitted a flexible outer covering.
None of the prior art knapsacks discloses a framework for removably retaining a plurality of containers in fixed relation to each other. Also, the prior art knapsacks all suffer the disadvantage that a plurality of items must be unpacked to gain access to a desired item.
It is therefore more desirable to provide a knapsack having a plurality of slide draws to allow for easy access to all containers of tackle in the knapsack. The slide draws provide a relatively rigid framework for orderly arrangement of the containers in fixed relation with respect to each other when stored. Thus, the facility for the user to carry the knapsack upon his/her back avoids the need for the user to carry a tackle box in one hand. Also, the slide draws avoid the problems of identification and retrieval of containers from the knapsack.
It is also or alternatively desirable to provide a coolbox in the knapsack to obviate the need for the user to use one of his/her hands to carry a separate coolbox.